Support for energy-oriented design in the Australian context

There is a need for decision support tools that integrate energy simulation into early design in the context of Australian practice. Despite the proliferation of simulation programs in the last decade, there are no ready-to-use applications that cater specifically for the Australian climate and regulations. Furthermore, the majority of existing tools focus on achieving interaction with the design domain through model-based interoperability, and largely overlook the issue of process integration. This paper proposes an energy-oriented design environment that both accommodates the Australian context and provides interactive and iterative information exchanges that facilitate feedback between domains. It then presents the structure for DEEPA, an openly customisable system that couples parametric modelling and energy simulation software as a means of developing a decision support tool to allow designers to rapidly and flexibly assess the performance of early design alternatives. Finally, it discusses the benefits of developing a dynamic and concurrent performance evaluation process that parallels the characteristics and relationships of the design process.

Energy-oriented design tools for collaboration in the cloud

Emerging from the challenge to reduce energy consumption in buildings is the need for energy simulation to be used more effectively to support integrated decision making in early design. As a critical response to a Green Star case study, we present DEEPA, a parametric modeling framework that enables architects and engineers to work at the same semantic level to generate shared models for energy simulation. A cloud-based toolkit provides web and data services for parametric design software that automate the process of simulating and tracking design alternatives, by linking building geometry more directly to analysis inputs. Data, semantics, models and simulation results can be shared on the fly. This allows the complex relationships between architecture, building services and energy consumption to be explored in an integrated manner, and decisions to be made collaboratively.

Enterprise architecture and the integration of service-oriented architecture

In recent years, enterprise architecture (EA) has captured a growing attention as a means to systematically consolidate and interrelate diverse business and IT artefacts in order to provide holistic decision support. The recent popularity of a service-orientation has added “service “and related constructs as a new element that requires consideration within an Enterprise Architecture. Since the emergence of the Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), many attempts have been made to incorporate SOA artefacts in existing EA frameworks. Yet, the approaches taken to achieve this goal differ substantially for the most commonly used EA frameworks to date. SOA in the context of enterprise architecture is one of the future research challenges. Several authors argue that further research is needed in order to understand how SOA impacts prior enterprise architecture frameworks. This study explores SOA integration within EA, identifies SOA integration approaches within EA and identifies factors that impact SOA integration within Enterprise Architecture.

Cracking the code : a checklist to complement CRAs for first year Justice students

It is well recognised in the literature on first year higher education that there is a need for Universities to provide further support and development in student learning skills and engagement. Assessment and feedback is an area with differing expectations and understandings among academics and students (e.g. AUSSE, CEQ). Consistency and explicitness in academic feedback is fundamental in assisting students in their transition to university education and learning. This poster captures the progress of an 18 month funded by the Faculty of Law Teaching and Learning Grant scheme (QUT). The project sought to develop and trial an assessment checklist/diagnostic tool to accompany Criteria Referenced Assessment sheets for students within the School of Justice, Law Faculty, Queensland University of Technology (QUT).The checklist was trialled across four units in the School of Justice (Law faculty) amongst an estimated cohort of over 600 students undertaking single and dual degrees.

A task-oriented approach to search engine usability studies

Usability is a multi-dimensional characteristic of a computer system. This paper focuses on usability as a measurement of interaction between the user and the system. The research employs a task-oriented approach to evaluate the usability of a meta search engine. This engine encourages and accepts queries of unlimited size expressed in natural language. A variety of conventional metrics developed by academic and industrial research, including ISO standards,, are applied to the information retrieval process consisting of sequential tasks. Tasks range from formulating (long) queries to interpreting and retaining search results. Results of the evaluation and analysis of the operation log indicate that obtaining advanced search engine results can be accomplished simultaneously with enhancing the usability of the interactive process. In conclusion, we discuss implications for interactive information retrieval system design and directions for future usability research. © 2008 Academy Publisher.

Towards automatic object segmentation with sequential multiple views

Object segmentation is one of the fundamental steps for a number of robotic applications such as manipulation, object detection, and obstacle avoidance. This paper proposes a visual method for incorporating colour and depth information from sequential multiview stereo images to segment objects of interest from complex and cluttered environments. Rather than segmenting objects using information from a single frame in the sequence, we incorporate information from neighbouring views to increase the reliability of the information and improve the overall segmentation result. Specifically, dense depth information of a scene is computed using multiple view stereo. Depths from neighbouring views are reprojected into the reference frame to be segmented compensating for imperfect depth computations for individual frames. The multiple depth layers are then combined with color information from the reference frame to create a Markov random field to model the segmentation problem. Finally, graphcut optimisation is employed to infer pixels belonging to the object to be segmented. The segmentation accuracy is evaluated over images from an outdoor video sequence demonstrating the viability for automatic object segmentation for mobile robots using monocular cameras as a primary sensor.

Charting the system : the integrated master schedule as a multi-level and poly-temporal boundary object in complex projects

This paper investigates the use of visual artifacts to represent a complex adaptive system (CAS). The integrated master schedule (IMS) is one of those visuals widely used in complex projects for scheduling, budgeting, and project management. In this paper, we discuss how the IMS outperforms the traditional timelines and acts as a ‘multi-level and poly-temporal boundary object’ that visually represents the CAS. We report the findings of a case study project on the way the IMS mapped interactions, interdependencies, constraints and fractal patterns in a complex project. Finally, we discuss how the IMS was utilised as a complex boundary object by eliciting commitment and development of shared mental models, and facilitating negotiation through the layers of multiple interpretations from stakeholders.

Some empirical results for neo-Piagetian reasoning in novice programmers and the relationship to code explanation questions

Recent research on novice programmers has suggested that they pass through neo-Piagetian stages: sensorimotor, preoperational, and concrete operational stages, before eventually reaching programming competence at the formal operational stage. This paper presents empirical results in support of this neo-Piagetian perspective. The major novel contributions of this paper are empirical results for some exam questions aimed at testing novices for the concrete operational abilities to reason with quantities that are conserved, processes that are reversible, and properties that hold under transitive inference. While the questions we used had been proposed earlier by Lister, he did not present any data for how students performed on these questions. Our empirical results demonstrate that many students struggle to answer these problems, despite the apparent simplicity of these problems. We then compare student performance on these questions with their performance on six explain in plain English questions.

Privacy oriented access control for electronic health records

Security and privacy in electronic health record systems have been hindering the growth of e-health systems since their emergence. The development of policies that satisfy the security and privacy requirements of different stakeholders in healthcare has proven to be difficult. But, these requirements have to be met if the systems developed are to succeed in achieving their intended goals. Access control is a fundamental security barrier for securing data in healthcare information systems. In this paper we present an access control model for electronic health records. We address patient privacy requirements, confidentiality of private information and the need for flexible access for health professionals for electronic health records. We carefully combine three existing access control models and present a novel access control model for EHRs which satisfies requirements of electronic health records.

A graphical notation for modelling events in business processes

Using complex event rules for capturing dependencies between business processes is an emerging trend in enterprise information systems. In previous work we have identified a set of requirements for event extensions for business process modeling languages. This paper introduces a graphical language for modeling composite events in business processes, namely BEMN, that fulfills all these requirements. These include event conjunction, disjunction and inhibition as well as cardinality of events whose graphical expression can be factored into flow-oriented process modeling and event rule modeling. Formal semantics for the language are provided.

Locally oriented crime prevention and the “partnership approach” : politics, practices and prospects

Why have multi-agency or "partnership" approaches to crime prevention and community safety been reported internationally with unfavorable results? Can groups and individuals from disparate government and non-government sectors work together to reduce or prevent crime? This article will address these and other questions by using developments in Belgium as its case study. In 1992, Belgium launched its "safety and crime prevention contracts", a series of locally based crime prevention initiatives which have attempted to contract federal, regional and local governments to a range of social and police oriented crime prevention endeavors. Traces the development of the Belgian crime prevention contracts and examines the difficulties experienced with "multi-agency crime prevention" and suggests that much of the political rhetoric in Belgium calling for local, community and intersectorial "partnerships" has, like several other countries including England and Wales, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, lacked clear practical expression. However, some promising initiatives indicate that this prevention approach may be capable of producing effective crime prevention and community safety outcomes. Further research is needed to describe these initiatives and analyze the conditions under which they are developed.

The advancement of religion is still a valid charitable object in 2001

“The Relevance of Religion” is the title of a recent address delivered by The Honourable Chief Justice Murray Gleeson of the High Court of Australia.1 In making the point “about the continuing public importance of religion”, the Chief Justice referenced Lord Devlin’s contention that “no society has yet solved the problem of how to teach morality without religion”....

ACE research vignette 002 : competing through service innovation - the case of project-oriented firms

This series of research vignettes is aimed at sharing current and interesting research findings from our team of international Entrepreneurship researchers. In this vignette, Dr Sandeep Salunke shares insights from his research on project-oriented firms.

Competing through service innovation : the role of bricolage and entrepreneurship in project-oriented firms

The criticality of service innovation in building and sustaining competitive advantage is gaining increasing recognition in the marketplace. Using empirical data from US and Australian project-oriented firms, the study uses a multi-staged multi-method research program to demonstrate how entrepreneurial service firms strategically combine resources at hand (bricolage) to innovate and stay ahead of rivals. The research shows that service entrepreneurship (SE) and bricolage influence two forms of service innovation (interactive and supportive), which in turn is associated with sustained competitive advantage (SCA). The results suggest that SE and bricolage indirectly relate to SCA through service innovation. The findings offer novel insights into how project-oriented service firms engage in innovation. In short, the findings encourage the “making do by combining resources at hand” as higher levels of entrepreneurial bricolage are associated with higher levels of interactive and supportive innovation enabling SCA, suggesting a new model.